Human sacrifice

For the Vengeance Rising album, see Human Sacrifice (album).

An excavated tzompantli from the Templo Mayor in modern-day Mexico City

Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/priestly figure, spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein a monarch's servants are killed in order for them to continue to serve their master in the next life. Closely related practices found in some tribal societies are cannibalism and headhunting. Human sacrifice is also known as ritual murder.

Human sacrifice was practiced in many human societies beginning in prehistoric times. By the Iron Age (1st millennium BCE), with the associated developments in religion (the Axial Age), human sacrifice was becoming less common throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia, and came to be looked down upon as barbaric during classical antiquity. In the Americas, however, human sacrifice continued to be practiced, by some, to varying degrees until the European colonization of the Americas. Today, human sacrifice has become extremely rare.

Modern secular laws treat human sacrifices as murder. Most major religions in the modern day condemn the practice. For example, the Hebrew Bible prohibits murder and human sacrifice to Moloch and Shrimad Bhagavatam condemns human sacrifice and cannibalism, warning of severe punishment in the afterlife for those who commit such acts.

Evolution and context

Further information: Origin of religion, Magical thinking, Anthropology of religion, Life-death-rebirth deity, and Fertility rite

Human sacrifice in the kingdom of Dahomey

Human sacrifice has been practiced on a number of different occasions and in many different cultures. The various rationales behind human sacrifice are the same that motivate religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice is typically intended to bring good fortune and to pacify the gods, for example in the context of the dedication of a completed building like a temple or bridge. Fertility was another common theme in ancient religious sacrifices, such as sacrifices to the Aztec god of agriculture Xipe Totec.

In Octavius, Minucius Felix asserts that various ancient cultures engaged in human sacrifices, stating, 'It was a rite among the Taurians of Pontus and the Egyptian Busiris to sacrifice guests, and for the Galli to slay human or inhuman victims to Mercury; the Romans buried alive a Greek man and woman, a Gallic man and woman as a sacrifice; and to this day, Jupiter Latiaris is worshipped with murder, and as befits the son of Saturn, he is gorged with the blood of an evil and criminal man.'"

In ancient Japan, legends talk about hitobashira ("human pillar"), in which maidens were buried alive at the base of or near some constructions to protect the buildings against disasters or enemy attacks, and almost identical accounts appear in the Balkans (The Building of Skadar and Bridge of Arta).

For the re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they killed about 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days. According to Ross Hassig, author of Aztec Warfare, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed in the ceremony.

Human sacrifice can also have the intention of winning the gods' favor in warfare. In Homeric legend, Iphigeneia was to be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to appease Artemis so she would allow the Greeks to wage the Trojan War.

In some notions of an afterlife, the deceased will benefit from victims killed at his funeral. Mongols, Scythians, early Egyptians and various Mesoamerican chiefs could take most of their household, including servants and concubines, with them to the next world. This is sometimes called a "retainer sacrifice", as the leader's retainers would be sacrificed along with their master, so that they could continue to serve him in the afterlife.

Hawaiian sacrifice, from Jacques Arago's account of Freycinet's travels around the world from 1817 to 1820

Another purpose is divination from the body parts of the victim. According to Strabo, Celts stabbed a victim with a sword and divined the future from his death spasms.

Headhunting is the practice of taking the head of a killed adversary, for ceremonial or magical purposes, or for reasons of prestige. It was found in many pre-modern tribal societies.

Human sacrifice may be a ritual practiced in a stable society, and may even be conducive to enhancing societal unity (see: Sociology of religion), both by creating a bond unifying the sacrificing community, and by combining human sacrifice and capital punishment, by removing individuals that have a negative effect on societal stability (criminals, religious heretics, foreign slaves or prisoners of war). However, outside of civil religion, human sacrifice may also result in outbursts of blood frenzy and mass killings that destabilize society.

Many cultures show traces of prehistoric human sacrifice in their mythologies and religious texts, but ceased the practice before the onset of historical records. Some see the story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22) as an example of an etiological myth, explaining the abolition of human sacrifice. The Vedic Purushamedha (literally "human sacrifice") is already a purely symbolic act in its earliest attestation. According to Pliny the Elder, human sacrifice in ancient Rome was abolished by a senatorial decree in 97 BCE, although by this time the practice had already become so rare that the decree was mostly a symbolic act. Human sacrifice once abolished is typically replaced by either animal sacrifice, or by the mock-sacrifice of effigies, such as the Argei in ancient Rome.

History by region

Main article: Timeline of human sacrifices

Ancient Near East

Further information: Religions of the ancient Near East, Minoan religion § Possibility of human sacrifice, Binding of Isaac, Jephthah § Sacrifice controversy, Iphigenia, and Moloch

Successful agricultural cities had already emerged in the Near East by the Neolithic, some protected behind stone walls. Jericho is the best known of these cities but other similar settlements existed along the coast of the Levant extending north into Asia Minor and west to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Most of the land was arid and the religious culture of the entire region centered on fertility and rain. Many of the religious rituals, including human sacrifice, had an agricultural focus. Blood was mixed with soil to improve its fertility.

Ancient Egypt

Further information: Ancient Egyptian retainer sacrifices

There may be evidence of retainer sacrifice in the early dynastic period at Abydos, when on the death of a King he would be accompanied by servants, and possibly high officials, who would continue to serve him in eternal life. The skeletons that were found had no obvious signs of trauma, leading to speculation that the giving up of life to serve the King may have been a voluntary act, possibly carried out in a drug-induced state. At about 2800 BCE, any possible evidence of such practices disappeared, though echoes are perhaps to be seen in the burial of statues of servants in Old Kingdom tombs.

Servants of both royalty and high court officials were slain to accompany their masters into the next world. The number of retainers buried surrounding the king's tomb was much greater than those of high court officials, however, again suggesting the greater importance of the pharaoh. For example, King Djer had 318 retainer sacrifices buried in his tomb, and 269 retainer sacrifices buried in enclosures surrounding his tomb.

Biblical accounts

Further information: Binding of Isaac, Herem (war or property), and Gehenna

References in the Bible point to an awareness of and disdain of human sacrifice in the history of ancient Near Eastern practice. During a battle with the Israelites, the King of Moab gives his firstborn son and heir as a whole burnt offering (olah, as used of the Temple sacrifice) (2 Kings 3:27). The Bible then recounts that, following the King's sacrifice, "There was great indignation [or wrath] against Israel" and that the Israelites had to raise their siege of the Moabite capital and go away. This verse had perplexed many later Jewish and Christian commentators, who tried to explain what the impact of the Moabite King's sacrifice was, to make those under siege emboldened while disheartening the Israelites, make God angry at the Israelites or the Israelites fear his anger, make Chemosh (the Moabite god) angry, or otherwise. Whatever the explanation, evidently at the time of writing, such an act of sacrificing the firstborn son and heir, while prohibited by Israelites (Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:9–12), was considered as an emergency measure in the Ancient Near East, to be performed in exceptional cases where divine favor was desperately needed.

The binding of Isaac appears in the Book of Genesis (22), where God tests Abraham by asking him to present his son as a sacrifice on Moriah. Abraham agrees to this command without arguing. The story ends with an angel stopping Abraham at the last minute and providing a ram, caught in some nearby bushes, to be sacrificed instead. Many Bible scholars have suggested this story's origin was a remembrance of an era when human sacrifice was abolished in favour of animal sacrifice.

Another probable instance of human sacrifice mentioned in the Bible is Jephthah's sacrifice of his daughter in Judges 11. Jephthah vows to sacrifice to God whatever comes to greet him at the door when he returns home if he is victorious in his war against the Ammonites. The vow is stated in the Book of Judges 11:31: "Then whoever comes of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord's, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering (NRSV)." When he returns from battle, his virgin daughter runs out to greet him, and Jephthah laments to her that he cannot take back his vow. She begs for, and is granted, "two months, so that I may go and wander on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I", after which "[Jephthah] did with her according to the vow he had made."

Two kings of Judah, Ahaz and Manassah, sacrificed their sons. Ahaz, in 2 Kings 16:3, sacrificed his son. "... He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel (NRSV)." King Manasseh sacrificed his sons in 2 Chronicles 33:6. "He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom ... He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger (NRSV)." The valley symbolized hell in later religions, such as Christianity, as a result.

Phoenicia

18th century depiction of the Moloch idol (Der Götze Moloch mit 7 Räumen oder Capellen. "The idol Moloch with seven chambers or chapels"), from Johann Lund's Die Alten Jüdischen Heiligthümer (1711, 1738)

According to Roman and Greek sources, Phoenicians and Carthaginians sacrificed infants to their gods. The bones of numerous infants have been found in Carthaginian archaeological sites in modern times, but their cause of death remain controversial. In a single child cemetery called the "Tophet" by archaeologists, an estimated 20,000 urns were deposited.

Plutarch (c. 46 – c. 120 CE) mentions the practice, as do Tertullian, Orosius, Diodorus Siculus and Philo. Livy and Polybius do not. The Bible asserts that children were sacrificed at a place called the tophet ("roasting place") to the god Moloch. According to Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica, "There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus extending its hands, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire."

Plutarch, however, claims that the children were already dead at the time, having been killed by their parents, whose consent – as well as that of the children – was required. Tertullian explains the acquiescence of the children as a product of their youthful trustfulness.

The accuracy of such stories is disputed by some modern historians and archaeologists.

Mesopotamia

Retainer sacrifice was practised within the royal tombs of ancient Mesopotamia. Courtiers, guards, musicians, handmaidens, and grooms were presumed to have committed ritual suicide by taking poison. A 2009 examination of skulls from the royal cemetery at Ur, discovered in Iraq in the 1920s by a team led by C. Leonard Woolley, appears to support a more grisly interpretation of human sacrifices associated with elite burials in ancient Mesopotamia than had previously been recognized. Palace attendants, as part of royal mortuary ritual, were not dosed with poison to meet death serenely. Instead, they were put to death by having a sharp instrument, such as a pike, driven into their heads.

Europe

Neolithic Europe

Further information: Neolithic religion

There is archaeological evidence of human sacrifice in Neolithic to Eneolithic Europe.

Greco-Roman antiquity

Further information: Ancient Greek religion and Ancient Roman religion

The mythological sacrifice of Polyxena by the triumphant Greeks at the end of the Trojan War

The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia, a mythological depiction of a sacrificial procession on a mosaic from Roman Spain

The ancient ritual of expelling certain slaves, cripples, or criminals from a community to ward off disaster (known as pharmakos), would at times involve publicly executing the chosen prisoner by throwing them off of a cliff.

References to human sacrifice can be found in Greek historical accounts as well as mythology. The human sacrifice in mythology, the deus ex machina salvation in some versions of Iphigeneia (who was about to be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon) and her replacement with a deer by the goddess Artemis, may be a vestigial memory of the abandonment and discrediting of the practice of human sacrifice among the Greeks in favour of animal sacrifice.

In ancient Rome, human sacrifice was infrequent but documented. Roman authors often contrast their own behavior with that of people who would commit the heinous act of human sacrifice, as human sacrifice was often looked down upon. These authors make it clear that such practices were from a much more uncivilized time in the past, far removed. It is thought that many ritualistic celebrations and dedications to gods used to involve human sacrifice but have now been replaced with symbolic offerings. Dionysius of Halicarnassus says that the ritual of the Argei, in which straw figures were tossed into the Tiber river, may have been a substitute for an original offering of elderly men. Cicero claimed that puppets thrown from the Pons Sublicius by the Vestal Virgins in a processional ceremony were substitutes for the past sacrifice of old men.

After the Roman defeat at Cannae, two Gauls and two Greeks in male-female couples were buried under the Forum Boarium, in a stone chamber used for the purpose at least once before. In Livy's description of these sacrifices, he distances the practice from Roman tradition and asserts that the past human sacrifices evident in the same location were "wholly alien to the Roman spirit." The rite was apparently repeated in 113 BCE, preparatory to an invasion of Gaul. They buried the two Greeks and the two Gauls alive as a plea to the gods to save Rome from destruction at the hands of Hannibal.

According to Pliny the Elder, human sacrifice was banned by law during the consulship of Publius Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus in 97 BCE, although by this time it was so rare that the decree was largely symbolic. Sulla's Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis in 82 BC also included punishments for human sacrifice. The Romans also had traditions that centered around ritual murder, but which they did not consider to be sacrifice. Such practices included burying unchaste Vestal Virgins alive and drowning visibly intersex children. These were seen as reactions to extraordinary circumstances as opposed to being part of Roman tradition. Vestal Virgins who were accused of being unchaste were put to death, and a special chamber was built to bury them alive. This aim was to please the gods and restore balance to Rome. Human sacrifices, in the form of burying individuals alive, were not uncommon during times of panic in ancient Rome. However, the burial of unchaste Vestal Virgins was also practiced in times of peace. Their chasteness was thought to be a safeguard of the city, and even in punishment, the state of their bodies was preserved in order to maintain the peace.

Captured enemy leaders were only occasionally executed at the conclusion of a Roman triumph, and the Romans themselves did not consider these deaths a sacrificial offering. Gladiator combat was thought by the Romans to have originated as fights to the death among war captives at the funerals of Roman generals, and Christian polemicists, such as Tertullian, considered deaths in the arena to be little more than human sacrifice. Over time, participants became criminals and slaves, and their death was considered a sacrifice to the Manes on behalf of the dead.

Political rumors sometimes centered around sacrifice and in doing so, aimed to liken individuals to barbarians and show that the individual had become uncivilized. Human sacrifice also became a marker and defining characteristic of magic and bad religion.

See also: Parthenon Frieze

Carthage

There is literary evidence for infant sacrifice being practiced in Carthage, however, current anthropological analyses have not found physical evidence to back up these claims. There is a Tophet, where infant remains have been found, but after current analytical techniques, it has been concluded this area is more representative of the naturally high infant mortality rate.

Celtic peoples

A 19th century depiction of a wicker man

Further information: Ancient Celtic religion and Human sacrifice in the ancient Iberian Peninsula

There is some evidence that ancient Celtic peoples practiced human sacrifice. Accounts of Celtic human sacrifice come from Roman and Greek sources. Julius Caesar and Strabo wrote that the Gauls burnt animal and human sacrifices in a large wickerwork figure, known as a wicker man, and said the human victims were usually criminals; while Posidonius wrote that druids who oversaw human sacrifices foretold the future by watching the death throes of the victims. Caesar also wrote that slaves of Gaulish chiefs would be burnt along with the body of their master as part of his funeral rites. In the 1st century AD, Roman writer Lucan mentioned human sacrifices to the Gaulish gods Esus, Toutatis and Taranis. In a 4th-century commentary on Lucan, an unnamed author added that sacrifices to Esus were hanged from a tree, those to Toutatis were drowned, and those to Taranis were burned. According to the 2nd-century Roman writer Cassius Dio, Boudica's forces impaled Roman captives during her rebellion against the Roman occupation, to the accompaniment of revelry and sacrifices in the sacred groves of Andate. It is important to note, however, that the Romans benefited from making the Celts sound barbaric, and scholars are more skeptical about these accounts now than in the past.

There is some archaeological evidence of human sacrifice among Celtic peoples, although it is rare. Ritual beheading and headhunting was a major religious and cultural practice that has found copious support in the archaeological record, including the numerous skulls found in Londinium's River Walbrook and the twelve headless corpses at the Gaulish sanctuary of Gournay-sur-Aronde.

Several ancient Irish bog bodies have been interpreted as kings who were ritually killed, presumably after serious crop failures or other disasters. Some were deposited in bogs on territorial boundaries (which were seen as liminal places) or near royal inauguration sites, and some were found to have eaten a ceremonial last meal. Some academics suggest there are allusions to kings being sacrificed in Irish mythology, particularly in tales of threefold deaths.

The medieval Dindsenchas (Lore of Places) says that, in pagan Ireland, first-born children were sacrificed at an idol called Crom Cruach, whose worship was ended by Saint Patrick. However, this account was written by Christian scribes centuries after the supposed events and may be based on biblical traditions about the god Moloch.

In Britain, the medieval legends of Dinas Emrys and of Saint Oran of Iona mention foundation sacrifices, whereby people were ritually killed and buried under foundations to ensure the building's safety. The Waldensians sect was later accused of child sacrifice by the Church.

Baltic peoples

Main article: Baltic mythology

According to written sources from the 13th-14th centuries, the Lithuanians and Prussians made sacrifices to their pagan gods at their sacred places, alka hills, battlefields and near natural objects (sea, rivers, lakes, etc.). In 1389 following the military victories in the land of Medininkai the Samogitians cast lots which indicated Marquard von Raschau, the commander of Klaipėda (Memel), as a suitable victim for gods and burnt him on horseback in full armour. It possibly was the last human sacrifice in medieval Europe.

Finnic peoples

Further information: Finnish paganism and Finnish mythology

Pope Gregory IX described in a papal letter how the Tavastians in Finland sacrificed Christians to their pagan gods: "The little children, to whom the light of Christ was revealed in baptism, they violently tore from this light and killed, and adult men, after pulling out their entrails, they sacrifice them to evil spirits and force others to run around trees until death, and some of the priests they blind, from others they brutally sever their hands and other limbs and wrap what is left behind in straws and burn them alive."

There have been found bog graves in Estonia that have been interpreted to have been part of human sacrifice. According to Aliis Moora, mostly enemy prisoners of war were sacrificed, the main reason indicated in the Livonian Chronicle as alleviating crop failure. Sacrifices were also performed as a show of gratitude after a victorious battle. Ritual cannibalism also took place, in order to gain the power of the enemy. The Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum by Adam of Bremen written at the end of the 11th century claims that behind the island of Kuramaa there is an island called Aestland (Estonia), whose inhabitants do not believe in the Christian God. Instead, they worship dragons and birds (dracones adorant cum volucribus) to whom people bought from slavers are sacrificed. According to the Livonian Chronicle, describing the events after the Battle of Ümera, "Estonians had seized some Germans, Livs, and Latvians, and some of them they simply killed, others they burned alive and tore the shirts off some of them, carved crosses on their backs with a sword and then beheaded". The Chronicle explicitly states they were sacrificed "to their gods" (diis suis).

Germanic peoples

Cimbrian seeresses performing human sacrifice, from Germania by Johannes Scherr.

Further information: Germanic paganism, Old Norse religion, and Blót

Human sacrifice was not particularly common among the Germanic peoples, being resorted to in exceptional situations arising from environmental crises (crop failure, drought, famine) or social crises (war), often thought to derive at least in part from the failure of the king to establish or maintain prosperity and peace (árs ok friðar) in the lands entrusted to him. In later Scandinavian practice, human sacrifice appears to have become more institutionalised and was repeated periodically as part of a larger sacrifice (according to Adam of Bremen, every nine years).

Evidence of human sacrifice by Germanic pagans before the Viking Age depend on archaeology and on a few accounts in Greco-Roman ethnography. Roman writer Tacitus reported the Suebians making human sacrifices to gods he interpreted as Mercury and Isis. He also claimed that Germans sacrificed Roman commanders and officers as a thanksgiving for victory in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Jordanes reported the Goths sacrificing prisoners of war to Mars, suspending the victims' severed arms from tree branches. Tacitus further refers to those who have transgressed certain societal rules being drowned and placed in wetlands. This potentially explains finds of bog bodies dating to the Roman Iron Age although it is to be noted that none show signs of having died by drowning.

By the 10th century, Germanic paganism had become restricted to the Norse people. One account by Ahmad ibn Fadlan in 922 claims Varangian warriors were sometimes buried with enslaved women, in the belief they would become their wives in Valhalla. He describes the funeral of a Varangian chieftain, in which a slave girl volunteered to be buried with him. After ten days of festivities, she was given an intoxicating drink, repeatedly raped by other chiefs, stabbed to death by a priestess, and burnt together with the dead chieftain in his boat (see ship burial). This practice is evidenced archaeologically, with many male warrior burials (such as the ship burial at Balladoole on the Isle of Man, or that at Oseberg in Norway) also containing female remains with signs of trauma.

The remains of the Tollund Man shortly after his discovery in 1950.

According to Adémar de Chabannes, just before his death in 932 or 933, Rollo (founder and first ruler of the Viking Duchy of Normandy) performed human sacrifices to appease the pagan gods while at the same time giving gifts to the churches in Normandy.

In the 11th century, Adam of Bremen wrote that human and animal sacrifices were made at the Temple at Gamla Uppsala in Sweden. He wrote that every ninth year, nine men and nine of every animal were sacrificed and their bodies hung in a sacred grove.

The Historia Norwegiæ and Ynglinga saga refer to the willing sacrifice of King Dómaldi after bad harvests. The same saga also relates that Dómaldi's descendant king Aun sacrificed nine of his own sons to Odin in exchange for longer life, until the Swedes stopped him from sacrificing his last son, Egil.

In the Saga of Hervor and Heidrek, Heidrek agrees to the sacrifice of his son in exchange for command over half the army of Reidgotaland. With this, he seizes the whole kingdom and prevents the sacrifice of his son, dedicating those fallen in his rebellion to Odin instead.

Slavic peoples

Main article: Slavic paganism

In the 10th century, Persian explorer Ahmad ibn Rustah described funerary rites for the Rus' (Scandinavian Norsemen traders in northeastern Europe) including the sacrifice of a young female slave. Leo the Deacon describes prisoner sacrifice by the Rus' led by Sviatoslav during the Russo-Byzantine War "in accordance with their ancestral custom."

According to the 12th-century Primary Chronicle, prisoners of war were sacrificed to the supreme Slavic deity Perun. Sacrifices to pagan gods, along with paganism itself, were banned after the Christianization of Rus' by Grand Prince Vladimir the Great in the 980s.

Archeological findings indicate that the practice may have been widespread, at least among slaves, judging from mass graves containing the cremated fragments of a number of different people.

East Asia

China

Human sacrifice from the Shang dynasty in China

The history of human sacrifice in China may extend as early as 2300 BCE. Excavations of the ancient fortress city of Shimao in the northern part of modern Shaanxi province revealed 80 skulls ritually buried underneath the city's eastern wall. Forensic analysis indicates the victims were all teenage girls.

The ancient Chinese are known to have made drowned sacrifices of men and women to the river god Hebo. They also have buried slaves alive with their owners upon death as part of a funeral service. This was especially prevalent during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. During the Warring States period, Ximen Bao of Wei outlawed human sacrificial practices to the river god. In Chinese lore, Ximen Bao is regarded as a folk hero who pointed out the absurdity of human sacrifice.

The sacrifice of a high-ranking male's slaves, concubines, or servants upon his death (called Xun Zang 殉葬 or Sheng Xun 生殉) was a more common form. The stated purpose was to provide companionship for the dead in the afterlife. In earlier times, the victims were either killed or buried alive, while later they were usually forced to commit suicide.

Funeral human sacrifice was widely practiced in the ancient Chinese state of Qin. According to the Records of the Grand Historian by Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, the practice was started by Duke Wu, the tenth ruler of Qin, who had 66 people buried with him in 678 BCE. The 14th ruler Duke Mu had 177 people buried with him in 621 BCE, including three senior government officials. Afterwards, the people of Qin wrote the famous poem Yellow Bird to condemn this barbaric practice, later compiled in the Confucian Classic of Poetry. The tomb of the 18th ruler Duke Jing of Qin, who died in 537 BCE, has been excavated. More than 180 coffins containing the remains of 186 victims were found in the tomb. The practice would continue until Duke Xian of Qin (424–362 BCE) abolished it in 384 BCE. Modern historian Ma Feibai considers the significance of Duke Xian's abolition of human sacrifice in Chinese history comparable to that of Abraham Lincoln's abolition of slavery in American history.

After the abolition by Duke Xian, funeral human sacrifice became relatively rare throughout the central parts of China. However, the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty revived it in 1395, following the Mongolian Yuan precedent, when his second son died and two of the prince's concubines were sacrificed. In 1464, the Tianshun Emperor, in his will, forbade the practice for Ming emperors and princes.

Human sacrifice was also practised by the Manchus. Following Nurhaci's death, his wife, Lady Abahai, and his two lesser consorts committed suicide. During the Qing dynasty, sacrifice of slaves was banned by the Kangxi Emperor in 1673.

Japan

In the practice known as Hitobashira (人柱, "human pillar"), a person was buried alive at the base of large structures such as dams, castles, and bridges.

Tibet

Human sacrifice was practiced in Tibet prior to the arrival of Buddhism in the 7th century. Historical practices such as burying bodies under the cornerstones of houses may have been practiced during the medieval era, but few concrete instances have been recorded or verified.

The prevalence of human sacrifice in medieval Buddhist Tibet is less clear. The Lamas, as professing Buddhists, could not condone blood sacrifices, and they replaced the human victims with effigies made from dough which is still to this day dyed partially red to symbolize sacrifice. This replacement of human victims with effigies is attributed to Padmasambhava, a Tibetan saint of the mid-8th century, in Tibetan tradition.

Nevertheless, there is some evidence that outside of orthodox Buddhism, there were practices of tantric human sacrifice which survived throughout the medieval period, and possibly into modern times. The 15th century Blue Annals reports that in the 13th century so-called "18 robber-monks" slaughtered men and women in their ceremonies. Grunfeld (1996) concludes that it cannot be ruled out that isolated instances of human sacrifice did survive in remote areas of Tibet until the mid-20th century, but they must have been rare. Grunfeld also notes that Tibetan practices unrelated to human sacrifice, such as the use of human bone in ritual instruments, have been depicted without evidence as products of human sacrifice.

Indian subcontinent

Fierce goddesses like Chamunda are recorded to have been offered human sacrifice.

In India, human sacrifice is mainly known as Narabali. Here "nara" means human and "bali" means sacrifice. It takes place in some parts of India mostly to find lost treasure. In Maharashtra, the government made it illegal to practice with the Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Act. Currently human sacrifice is very rare in modern India. There have been at least three cases through 2003–2013 where men have been murdered allegedly in the name of human sacrifice.

Thuggees, or thugs, were an organized gang of professional robbers and murderers who traveled in groups across the Indian subcontinent for several hundred years. They were first mentioned in Ẓiyā'-ud-Dīn Baranī's Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi (English: History of Fīrūz Shāh) dated around 1356. Thugs would join travellers and gain their confidence. This would allow them to then surprise and strangle them by tossing a handkerchief or noose around their necks. They would then rob the bodies of valuables and bury them. This led them to also be called Phansigar (English: using a noose), a term more commonly used in southern India.

Regarding possible Vedic mention of human sacrifice, the prevailing 19th-century view, associated above all with Henry Colebrooke, was that human sacrifice did not actually take place. Those verses which referred to purushamedha were meant to be read symbolically, or as a "priestly fantasy". However, Rajendralal Mitra published a defence of the thesis that human sacrifice, as had been practised in Bengal, was a continuation of traditions dating back to Vedic periods. Hermann Oldenberg held to Colebrooke's view; but Jan Gonda underlined its disputed status.

Human and animal sacrifice became less common during the post-Vedic period, as ahimsa (non-violence) became part of mainstream religious thought. The Chandogya Upanishad (3.17.4) includes ahimsa in its list of virtues. The impact of Sramanic religions such as Buddhism and Jainism also became known in the Indian subcontinent.

In the 7th century, Banabhatta, in a description of the dedication of a temple of Chandika, describes a series of human sacrifices; similarly, in the 9th century, Haribhadra describes the sacrifices to Chandika in Odisha. The town of Kuknur in North Karnataka there exists an ancient Kali temple, built around the 8-9th century CE, which has a history of human sacrifices. Human sacrifice is reputed to have been performed on the altars of the Hatimura Temple, a Shakti (Great Goddess) temple located at Silghat, in the Nagaon district of Assam. It was built during the reign of king Pramatta Singha in 1667 Sakabda (1745–1746 CE). It used to be an important center of Shaktism in ancient Assam. Its presiding goddess is Durga in her aspect of Mahisamardini, slayer of the demon Mahisasura. It was also performed in the Tamresari Temple which was located in Sadiya under the Chutia kings.

Open human sacrifices were carried out in connection with the worship of Shakti until approximately the early modern period, and in Bengal perhaps as late as the early 19th century. Although not accepted by larger section of Hindu culture certain Tantric cults performed human sacrifice until around the same time, both actual and symbolic; it was a highly ritualised act, and on occasion took many months to complete. An occasional ritual murder, to Kali, periodically appears in the contemporary press.

The free or forced burning of widows, in a Vedic practise known as Sati, was noted during Alexander's invasion, of 327 BCE. A practice that was codified during the Gupta empire, and later prohibited, in Bengal via Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829, later across India, the last explicit legislation, in India, being the Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.

Pacific

James Cook witnessing human sacrifice in Tahiti c. 1773

In Ancient Hawaii, a luakini temple, or luakini heiau, was a Native Hawaiian sacred place where human and animal blood sacrifices were offered. Kauwa, the outcast or slave class, were often used as human sacrifices at the luakini heiau. They are believed to have been war captives, or the descendants of war captives. They were not the only sacrifices; law-breakers of all castes or defeated political opponents were also acceptable as victims. Rituals for the Hawaiian god Kūkaʻilimoku included human sacrifice, which was not part of the worship of other gods.

According to an 1817 account, in Tonga, a child was strangled to assist the recovery of a sick relation.

Pre-Columbian Americas

See also: Child sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures

Altar for human sacrifice at Monte Albán

Some of the most famous forms of ancient human sacrifice were performed by various Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas that included the sacrifice of prisoners as well as voluntary sacrifice. Friar Marcos de Niza (1539), writing of the Chichimecas, said that from time to time "they of this valley cast lots whose luck (honour) it shall be to be sacrificed, and they make him great cheer, on whom the lot falls, and with great joy they lund him with flowers upon a bed prepared in the said ditch all full of flowers and sweet herbs, on which they lay him along, and lay great store of dry wood on both sides of him, and set it on fire on either part, and so he dies" and "that the victim took great pleasure" in being sacrificed.

North America

The Mixtec players of the Mesoamerican ballgame were sacrificed when the game was used to resolve a dispute between cities. The rulers would play a game instead of going to battle. The losing ruler would be sacrificed. The ruler "Eight Deer", who was considered a great ball player and who won several cities this way, was eventually sacrificed, because he attempted to go beyond lineage-governing practices, and to create an empire.

Human sacrificial victim on a Maya vessel, 600–850 CE (Dallas Museum of Art)

Maya

Main article: Human sacrifice in Maya culture

The Maya held the belief that cenotes or limestone sinkholes were portals to the underworld and sacrificed human beings and tossed them down the cenote to please the water god Chaac. The most notable example of this is the "Sacred Cenote" at Chichén Itzá. Extensive excavations have recovered the remains of 42 individuals, half of them under twenty years old.

Only in the Post-Classic era did this practice become as frequent as in central Mexico. In the Post-Classic period, the victims and the altar are represented as daubed in a hue now known as Maya blue, obtained from the añil plant and the clay mineral palygorskite.

Aztecs

Main article: Human sacrifice in Aztec culture

Aztec heart sacrifices, Codex Mendoza

The Aztecs were particularly noted for practicing human sacrifice on a large scale; an offering to Huitzilopochtli would be made to restore the blood he lost, as the sun was engaged in a daily battle. Human sacrifices would prevent the end of the world that could happen on each cycle of 52 years. In the 1487 re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan some estimate that 80,400 prisoners were sacrificed though numbers are difficult to quantify, as all obtainable Aztec texts were destroyed by Christian missionaries during the period 1528–1548. The Aztec, also known as Mexica, periodically sacrificed children as it was believed that the rain god, Tlāloc, required the tears of children.

According to Ross Hassig, author of Aztec Warfare, "between 10,000 and 80,400 people" were sacrificed in the ceremony. The old reports of numbers sacrificed for special feasts have been described as "unbelievably high" by some authors and that on cautious reckoning, based on reliable evidence, the numbers could not have exceeded at most several hundred per year in Tenochtitlan. The real number of sacrificed victims during the 1487 consecration is unknown.

Aztec burial of a sacrificed child at Tlatelolco

Michael Harner, in his 1997 article The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice, estimates the number of persons sacrificed in central Mexico in the 15th century as high as 250,000 per year. Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, a Mexica descendant and the author of Codex Ixtlilxochitl, claimed that one in five children of the Mexica subjects was killed annually. Victor Davis Hanson argues that an estimate by Carlos Zumárraga of 20,000 per annum is more plausible. Other scholars believe that, since the Aztecs always tried to intimidate their enemies, it is far more likely that they inflated the official number as a propaganda tool.

United States

Mound 72 mass sacrifice of 53 young women

The funeral procession of Tattooed Serpent in 1725, with retainers waiting to be sacrificed

The peoples of the Southeastern United States known as the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) have been suggested to have practiced human sacrifice, because some artifacts have been interpreted as depicting such acts. Mound 72 at Cahokia (the largest Mississippian site), located near modern St. Louis, Missouri, was found to have numerous pits filled with mass burials thought to have been retainer sacrifices. One of several similar pit burials had the remains of 53 young women who had been strangled and neatly arranged in two layers. Another pit held 39 men, women, and children who showed signs of dying a violent death before being unceremoniously dumped into the pit. Several bodies showed signs of not having been fully dead when buried and of having tried to claw their way to the surface. On top of these people another group had been neatly arranged on litters made of cedar poles and cane matting. Another group of four individuals found in the mound were interred on a low platform, with their arms interlocked. They had had their heads and hands removed. The most spectacular burial at the mound is the "Birdman burial". This was the burial of a tall man in his 40s, now thought to have been an important early Cahokian ruler. He was buried on an elevated platform covered by a bed of more than 20,000 marine-shell disc beads arranged in the shape of a falcon, with the bird's head appearing beneath and beside the man's head, and its wings and tail beneath his arms and legs. Below the birdman was another man, buried facing downward. Surrounding the birdman were several other retainers and groups of elaborate grave goods.

A ritual sacrifice of retainers and commoners upon the death of an elite personage is also attested in the historical record among the last remaining fully Mississippian culture, the Natchez. Upon the death of "Tattooed Serpent" in 1725, the war chief and younger brother of the "Great Sun" or Chief of the Natchez; two of his wives, one of his sisters (nicknamed La Glorieuse by the French), his first warrior, his doctor, his head servant and the servant's wife, his nurse, and a craftsman of war clubs all chose to die and be interred with him, as well as several old women and an infant who was strangled by his parents. Great honor was associated with such a sacrifice, and their kin were held in high esteem. After a funeral procession with the chief's body carried on a litter made of cane matting and cedar poles ended at the temple (which was located on top of a low platform mound), the retainers, with their faces painted red and drugged with large doses of nicotine, were ritually strangled. Tattooed Serpent was then buried in a trench inside the temple floor and the retainers were buried in other locations atop the mound surrounding the temple. After a few months' time the bodies were dis-interred and their defleshed bones were stored as bundle burials in the temple.

The Pawnee may have occasionally conducted the Morning Star Ceremony, which included the sacrifice of a young girl. Though the ritual continued, the sacrifice was discontinued in the 19th century.

South America

"The Maiden", one of the Llullaillaco mummies, Inca human sacrifice, Salta province (Argentina)

A "Tumi", a ceremonial knife used in Andean cultures, often for sacrificial purposes

The Incas practiced human sacrifice, especially at great festivals or royal funerals where retainers died to accompany the dead into the next life. The Moche sacrificed teenagers en masse, as archaeologist Steve Bourget found when he uncovered the bones of 42 male adolescents in 1995.

The study of the images seen in Moche art has enabled researchers to reconstruct the culture's most important ceremonial sequence, which began with ritual combat and culminated in the sacrifice of those defeated in battle. Dressed in fine clothes and adornments, armed warriors faced each other in ritual combat. In this hand-to-hand encounter the aim was to remove the opponent's headdress rather than kill him. The object of the combat was the provision of victims for sacrifice. The vanquished were stripped and bound, after which they were led in procession to the place of sacrifice. The captives are portrayed as strong and sexually potent. In the temple, the priests and priestesses would prepare the victims for sacrifice. The sacrificial methods employed varied, but at least one of the victims would be bled to death. His blood was offered to the principal deities in order to please and placate them.

The Inca of Peru also made human sacrifices. As many as 4,000 servants, court officials, favorites, and concubines were killed upon the death of the Inca Huayna Capac in 1527, for example. A number of mummies of sacrificed children have been recovered in the Inca regions of South America, an ancient practice known as qhapaq hucha. The Incas performed child sacrifices during or after important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca (emperor) or during a famine.

Африка

Западная Африка

Жертвы жертвы - из истории Дахомия, внутреннего царства Африки , 1793

Человеческие жертвы Juju до сих пор практикуются в Западной Африке. Ежегодный обычаи Дахомея была самым известным примером, но жертвы были выполнены по всему западноафриканскому побережью и дальше вглубь страны. Жертвы были особенно распространены после смерти короля или королевы, и есть много зарегистрированных случаев, когда сотни или даже тысячи рабов приносили в жертву на таких событиях. Жертвы были особенно распространены в Дахомее , в том, что сейчас является Бенином , и в небольших независимых штатах в том, что сейчас является южной Нигерией . По словам Рудольфа Раммеля : «Просто рассмотрим великий обычай в Дахомеи: когда умер правитель, сотни, иногда даже тысячи заключенных были убиты. В одной из этих церемоний в 1727 году было зарегистрировано 4000, сообщалось. Кроме того. У Дахомея был ежегодный обычай , в течение которого 500 заключенных пожертвовали ».

В Ашанти области современной Ганы человеческая жертва часто сочеталась со смертной казни.

Мужчины- леопарда были западноафриканским секретным обществом, активным в середине 1900-х годов, которое практиковало каннибализм . Считалось, что ритуальный каннибализм укрепит как членов общества, так и все их племя. В Танганьике львиные люди совершили около 200 убийств за один трехмесячный период.

Канарские острова

Из испанских хроник сообщалось, что гунги (древние жители этих островов) исполняли как животные, так и человеческие жертвы.

Во время летнего солнцестояния в Tenerife дети были принесены в жертву, будучи брошенными из скалы в море. Эти дети были привезены из разных частей острова с целью жертвоприношения. Аналогичным образом, когда король аборигенов умер, его подданные также должны принять море, а также бальзамены, которые втислились мумии Ганч .

В Гран -Канарии кости детей были найдены смешанными с костями ягнят и козьих детей, а на Тенерифе были обнаружены с остатками детей внутри. Это предполагает другой тип ритуального детоубийства от тех, кто был выброшен со скал.

Запрет на основные религии

Греческий многобожие

Говорят , что в греческом многобожие Тантал был осужден на Тартару на вечность за человеческую жертву своего сына Пелопса .

Авраамические религии

Основная статья: Связывание Исаака

Многие традиции авраамовых религий, таких как иудаизм , христианство и ислам, считают, что Бог повелел Аврааму пожертвовать Своим Сыном, чтобы исследовать послушание Авраама с Его приказом. Чтобы доказать свое послушание, Авраам намеревался пожертвовать своим сыном. Однако, увидев решимость Авраама, Бог повелел Аврааму пожертвовать бараном вместо Своего Сына.

Иудаизм

Иудаизм явно запрещает человеческую жертву, относительно этого как убийство. Евреи рассматривают Акеда как центральное место в отмене человеческих жертв. Некоторые ученые Талмуда утверждают, что его замена - жертвенное предложение животных в храме - используя Исход 13: 2–12ff; 22: 28 и далее; 34: 19ff; Numeri 3: 1ff; 18:15; Второзаконие 15:19-Другие считают, что как заменяя символическую жертву Парса-про-Тото Завета об обрезании . Левит 20: 2 и Второзаконие 18:10 специально запрещают отдавать детей Молоху , что делает его наказуемым камнями; Впоследствии Танах . осуждает человеческие жертвы как варварские обычаи верующих Молох (например, Псалмы 106: 37FF)

Судьи в главе 11 представлены судья по имени Джефтах, клятвенный, что «все, что прилегает к дверям моего дома, чтобы встретиться со мной, безусловно, будет Господом, и я предложу его как сожжение» в благодарности за помощь Бога с военной битвой против аммонитов. К большому ужасу Джефта, его единственная дочь приветствовала его после его триумфального возвращения. Судьи 11:39 утверждают, что Иефтах сделал это, как он поклялся, но «уклоняется от явного изображения ее жертвы, что приводит к некоторым древним и современным переводчикам (например, Радак ), чтобы предположить, что ее на самом деле не убили».

Согласно Мишне, он не обязан сохранять нелегальную, нелегальную клятву. По словам раввина Йоханана , в своем комментарии к Мишне было обязательство Джефта заплатить клятву в деньгах. Согласно некоторым комментаторам раббиновой еврейской традиции в средние века, дочь Джептха не была принесена в жертву, но была запрещена вступать в брак и оставалась в спинстере всю свою жизнь.

1-го века Однако еврея-гиллинистический историк Флавиус Иосиф заявил, что Иефтах «пожертвовал своим ребенком как сгоревшее возмещение-жертва, не санкционированная законом и не приятным Богом; потому что он не задумал, что могло Попасть или в каком аспекте поступок может показаться тем, кто слышал об этом ». Латинский философ Псевдо-Филос , конец 1-го века, он писал, что Джефтах сожг свою дочь, потому что он не мог найти мудреца в Израиле, который отменил бы его клятву. Другими словами, по мнению латинского философа, эта история о плохой фразированной клятвах объединяется с тем, что человеческие жертвы-это не порядок или требование Бога , а наказание для тех, кто незаконно поклялся жертвовать людьми.

Ангел заканчивает обязательство Исаака Авраамом , которое, как полагают, является предзнаменованием человеческой жертвы Христа ( предложение Авраама, Бытие 22: 1–13 , мастерская Рембрандт , 1636; христианское искусство )

Обвинения, обвиняющие евреев в совершении ритуального убийства - называемого « клеветой » - были широко распространены в средние века , часто приводя к убийству целых еврейских общин. В 20-м веке аналогичные обвинения в убийстве ритуальных детей нехристиан были сделаны в рамках сатанинского ритуального насилия моральной паники .

христианство

Христианство развило веру в то, что история об обязательстве Исаака была предзнаменованием жертвы Христа , чья смерть и воскресение, как полагают, позволили спасению и искуплению для человека от его грехов, включая первоначальный грех . Существует традиция, что место обязательного Исаака, Мория , позже стала Иерусалимом , будущим распятием города Иисуса. Убеждения многих христианских конфессий зависят от замены искупления жертвы Бога Сына , которое было необходимо для спасения в загробной жизни. Согласно христианскому доктрине, каждый отдельный человек на земле должен участвовать и / или получать преимущества этого божественного человеческого жертвы за искупление их грехов . Ранние христианские источники явно описали это событие как жертвенное предложение, когда Христос в роли священника и человеческих жертв, хотя и начиная с просвещения , некоторые писатели, такие как Джон Локк , оспорили модель смерти Иисуса как умиротворенную жертву Полем

Хотя ранние христиане в Римской империи были обвинены в том, что они каннибалы, теофаги (греческие для «Пожирателей Бога») Такие практики, как человеческие жертвы, были отвратительными для них. Восточные православные и римско-католические что эта «чистая жертва» как самоотдача Христа в любви, присутствующая в Таинстве Евхаристии христиане считают , . В этой традиции хлеб и вино становятся « настоящим присутствием » (буквальное плотское тело и кровь воскресшего Христа). Получение Евхаристии является центральной частью религиозной жизни католических и православных христиан. Большинство протестантских традиций не разделяют веру в реальное присутствие, но в противном случае разнообразны, например, они могут верить, что в хлебе и вине Христос присутствует только духовно, а не в смысле изменения в субстанции ( методизм ) или что хлеб и вино причастия являются просто символическим напоминанием ( баптистским ).

В средневековых ирландских католических текстах есть упоминание о ранней церкви в Ирландии, в которой, предположительно, содержащей практику похоронивания жертвы жертв под церквями, чтобы освятить их. Это может иметь отношение к языческому кельтским практикам жертвы фундамента. Наиболее заметным примером этого является случай, когда Одран из Иона, компаньон Святой Колумбы , который (согласно легенде) вызвался умереть и быть похороненным под церковью монастыря Иона. Тем не менее, нет никаких доказательств того, что такие вещи когда -либо происходили в реальности, а современные записи ближе к периоду времени не упоминают о такой практике.

ислам

Ислам считает, что человеческие жертвы оправдывают «истинную религию». Он также описывается как обычная практика в доисламской цивилизации, от Греции до Аравии ^{[Коран 6: 137 ]} . Связывание истории Пророка Исмаила интерпретируется как Аллах, показывающий превосходство жертв животных над человеческими жертвами.

В 2016 году бойцы ИГИЛ убили не менее 15 сирийских пленников, включая детей, в качестве жертв за праздником Ид-аль-Адха . Убийства были осуждены как преступления против «ислама, мусульман и человечества» в социальных сетях.

Индийские религии

Основная статья: ахимса

Многие индийские религии , в том числе буддизм , джайнизм и некоторые секты индуизма , принимают доктрину ахимсы (ненасилие), которое навязывает вегетарианство и преступники, а также человеческие жертвы.

буддизм

В случае буддизма и Бхикхусу (монахам), так и бхикхунису (монахиням) было запрещено принимать жизнь в любой форме в рамках монашеского кодекса , в то время как ненасилие было повышено среди мирян путем поощрения пяти заповедей . В буддийском мире как мясо, так и алкоголь сильно обескураживаются в качестве подношений буддийскому алтарю, причем первое является синонимом жертвы, а второе - нарушение пяти заповедей.

В своих усилиях по дискредитированию тибетского буддизма , Китайской Народной Республики , а также китайских националистов в Китайской Республике частые и решительные ссылки на историческую практику человеческих жертв в Тибете , изображая вторжение Армии освободительной Армии 1950 года как акт гуманитарного вмешательства. Согласно китайским источникам, в 1948 году 21 человек был убит государственными жертвами -жертвами из Лхасы в рамках ритуала уничтожения врага, потому что их органы требовались в качестве магических ингредиентов. Музей тибетских революций , созданный китайцами в Лхасе, имеет многочисленные патологические ритуальные объекты, демонстрируемые, чтобы проиллюстрировать эти утверждения.

индуизм

Во многих сектах индуизма , основанных на принципе ахимсы , любая человеческая или животная жертва запрещена. В 19 -м и 20 -м веках, выдающиеся фигуры индийской духовности, такие как Свами Вивекананда , Рамана Махарши , Важность ахимсы была подчеркнута Свами Сиванандой , и AC Bhaktivedanta Swami .

Современные случаи

См. Также: Сатанинское ритуальное насилие

Америка

Бразилия

В городе Альтамира , штат Пара , несколько детей были изнасилованы, с их гениталиями, изуродованными для того, что, по -видимому, является ритуальными целями, а затем зарезано до смерти, в период с 1989 по 1993 год . Считается, что сексуальные органы мальчиков использовались в обрядах черной магии .

Чили

В прибрежной деревне Collileufu, родные Лафкенчеса, в те дни после землетрясения в Вальдивии 1960 года . Collileufu, расположенный в районе озера Буди , к югу от Пуэрто -Саавенры , был высоко изолирован в 1960 году. Мапуч говорил в первую очередь Мапудунгун . Сообщество собралось в Серро -ла -Меса, в то время как низмены были поражены последовательными цунами . Хуана Намункура Аньен, Местный Мачи , потребовал жертвы внука Хуана Пейнкура, соседа, чтобы успокоить землю и океан. Жертва была 5-летняя Хосе Луис Пейнкур, названная «сиротой» ( Хуачо ), потому что его мать уехала в Сантьяго, за работу в качестве домашнего работника и оставила своего сына под опекой своего отца.

Хосе Луис Пейнкур сняли руки и ноги Хуаном Паньяном и Хуан Хосе Пейнкур (дедушка жертвы), и застрял в песке пляжа, как коэффициент. Воды Тихого океана затем унесли тело в море. Власти узнали о жертве только после того, как мальчик в коммуне Nueva Imperial осудил местным лидерам воровство двух лошадей; Якобы они были съедены во время ритуала жертвы. Двое мужчин были обвинены в совершении преступления и признались, но позже отречься. Они были освобождены через два года. Судья постановил, что те, кто участвовал в этих событиях, «действовали без свободной воли, вызванной неотразимой естественной силой наследственной традиции». История была упомянута в статье журнала Time , хотя и с скудными деталями.

Мексика

В течение 1980 -х годов в Тамаулипасе, Мексика, произошел случай с серийными убийствами, в результате которых ритуалы человеческие жертвы произошли в Тамаулипасе , Мексика. Торговец наркотиками и лидер культа Адольфо Констанцо организовали несколько казней во время ритуалов, которые включали расчленение жертв.

В период с 2009 по 2010 год в Соноре , Мексика, серийный убийца по имени Сильвия Мераз совершил три убийства в ритуалах жертвы. С помощью своей семьи она обезглавила двух мальчиков (оба родственников) и одной женщины перед алтарем, посвященным Санта -Муерте .

Панама

Секта «Новый свет Божий» в городе Эль Террон, Нгабе-Бугле Комарка , Панама , полагала, что у них есть мандат от Бога, чтобы пожертвовать членами их общины, которые не смогли покаяться на их удовлетворение. В 2020 году 5 детей, их беременная мать и сосед были убиты и обезглавлены в церковном здании секты, а 14 других раненых жертв спасли. Пострадавшие были взломаны мачете, избиты Библии и Худгели, и сгорели с угли. На месте происшествия также ритуально пожертвовал. В убеждениях культа была синкретическая смесь пятидесятников с веровами коренных народов и некоторыми идеями нового эры, включая акцент на третьем глаза . Лидер региона Нгабе-Бугле назвал секту «сатанинской» и потребовал ее искоренения.

Азия

Индия

С момента обретения независимости сообщалось о нескольких случаях человеческих жертв:

-Национальный Сушил Мурму пожертвовал девятилетним мальчиком В 1996 году Джаркханд в качестве предложения богине Кали . Мурму был приговорен к смертной казни, но позже президент Индии был привлечен к пожизненному заключению.

Согласно The Hindustan Times произошел инцидент человеческих жертв , в 2003 году в Западном Уттар -Прадеш . Аналогичным образом, полиция в Хурдже сообщила о «десятках жертв» в период полугода в 2006 году последователями Кали , богини смерти и времени.

был убит двухлетний мальчик В 2010 году в Чхаттисгархе в тантрической человеческой жертве.

По данным Национального бюро по криминальной записи, в Индии было зарегистрировано более 100 случаев человеческих жертв в период с 2014 по 2021 год.

В 2015 году, во время гранитных мошенничества расследований Тамилнада были сообщения о возможных человеческих жертвах, , в районе Мадураи чтобы успокоить богиню Шакти за то, что она получила власть для развития незаконного гранитного бизнеса. Кости и черепа были извлечены из предполагаемых мест в присутствии специального судебного должностного лица, назначенного Высоким судом Мадраса .

В период с июня по октябрь 2022 года две женщины были убиты и, как сообщается, каннибализированы в рамках человеческой жертвы в Элантере в районе Патанамтитта в Керале. В октябре 2022 года в Дели был убит шестилетний мальчик в Дели, чтобы угодить божеству.

В 2023 году пять мужчин были арестованы за убийство и обезглавливание женщины с мачете в 2019 году в рамках религиозного обряда, чтобы отметить годовщину смерти брата главаря после посещения индуистского храма в Гувахати .

Африка

Дополнительная информация: убийство медицины и жертва детей в Уганде

Человеческие жертвы больше не являются законными в любой стране, и такие случаи преследуются. Однако по состоянию на 2020 год в таких странах, как Кения, по -прежнему существует спрос на рынок черного рынка.

В январе 2008 года Милтон Блахии из Либерии признался в том, что он был частью человеческих жертв, которые «включали убийство невинного ребенка и выталкивание сердца, которое было разделено на части, чтобы мы могли есть». Он боролся с Чарльза Тейлора . милицией

В 2019 году лидер антибалаки в САТЕМЕ в Центральной Африке-Республике убил 14-летнюю девочку в ритуальном виде, чтобы увеличить прибыль от шахт.

22 марта 2014 года группа водителей такси мотоциклов обнаружила Ибаданский лес ужасов , который, как полагают, использовалось для торговли людьми и ритуальной жертвы, расположенного в лесу Сока в Ибадане , штат Ойо , Нигерия .

Европа

Италия

6 июня 2000 года три девочки -подростка заманили католическую сестру , Марию Лауру Манекетти , из своего монастыря в Чьявенне , Сондрио , и зарезала ее до смерти в сатанинской жертве.

Великобритания

В июне 2005 года в докладе BBC утверждается, что мальчики из Африки были торговлей в Великобритании за человеческие жертвы. В нем отмечалось, что дети были избиты и убиты после того, как пасторы называли себя ведьмами в ангольской общине в Лондоне.

Даньял Хуссейн, который убил двух сестер, Бибаа Генри и Николь Смолман в парке Уэмбли в Лондоне, был «тесно связан» с орденом девяти сторон и принял участие в интернет -форуме O9A. Он убил двух женщин, чтобы выполнить «демонический пакт». В ответ депутат Стефани Пикок призвала министра внутренних дел запретить O9A.

Россия

В России четыре члена Ордена по девяти углам были арестованы после того, как два признались в ритуальных убийствах, связанных с каннибализмом в Карелие и Сен -Петербурге. Двое из них также обвиняются в крупномасштабном обороте наркотиков, поскольку в их доме было обнаружено большое количество наркотиков.

Ритуальное убийство

См. Также: Сатанинское ритуальное насилие

Ритуальные убийства, совершаемые отдельными лицами или небольшими группами в обществе, которые осуждают их как простое убийство, трудно классифицировать как «человеческие жертвы» или простое патологическое убийство, потому что им не хватает общественной интеграции собственной жертвы .

Сатанинские группы порядок девяти углов и храм черного света способствует человеческим жертвам. Во время сатанинской паники некоторые теоретики заговора ложно утверждали, что в Соединенных Штатах было более миллиона человеческих жертв.

Нелетальная «жертва»

В Индии существует фестиваль (Seega Marumma), на котором человек выбирается в качестве «жертвы», и участники считают, что во время ритуала они полагают, что они фактически остаются живыми и «воскрес» из мертвых после период лежа еще. Таким образом, это не имеет таких же юридических последствий, как истинная человеческая жертва, хотя участники считают, что это одно.

Смотрите также

• Ацефальный
• Жертва животных
• Искупление крови
• Смертная казнь
• Детская жертва
• Проклятие Типпекано
• Геенна
• Человек, которого убивают
• Честь убийство
• Честь самоубийство
• Задумчивый
• Джунши
• Маргарет Мюррей - Божественный король в Англии
• Порядок девяти углов
• Pharmakos
• Золотая ветвь

Источники

Книги

• Карраско, Дэвид (2000). Город жертвы: Империя ацтеков и роль насилия в цивилизации . Моутон Миффлин. ISBN  0-8070-4643-4 .
• Клендеры, Inga (1995). Ацтеки: и интерпретация . Издательство Кембриджского университета. ISBN  978-0-521-48585-2 .
• Coggins, помилование; Шейн, Оррин С. III (1984). Кенот жертв . Университет Техасской прессы. ISBN  0-292-71097-6 .
• Жирар, Рене (1979). Насилие и священное . Перевод Грегори, издательство П. Джонса Хопкинса Университета. ISBN  0-8264-7718-6 .
• Жирар, Рене (2001). Я вижу сатану, как молния . Перевод Уильямса, Джеймса Г. Орбиса книг. ISBN  1-57075-319-9 .
• Aldhouse-Green, Миранда (2001). Умирает за богов . Трафальгарская площадь. ISBN  0-7524-1940-4 .
• Хьюз, Деннис Д. (1991). Человеческая жертва в древней Греции . Routledge. ISBN  0-415-03483-3 .
• Хьюз, Дерек (2007). Культура и жертва: ритуальная смерть в литературе и оперу . Издательство Кембриджского университета. ISBN  978-0-521-86733-7 .
• Хаттон, Рональд (1991). Языческие религии древних Британских островов: их природа и наследие . Уайли. ISBN  0-631-18946-7 .
• Каханер, Ларри (1994). Культы, которые убивают . Warner Books. ISBN  978-0-446-35637-4 .
• Валери, Валерио (1985). Царствование и жертва: ритуал и общество на древних Гавайях . Университет Чикагской Прессы. ISBN  0-226-84559-1 .
• Дженсен, Адольф Э. (1963). Миф и культ среди примитивных народов . Университет Чикагской Прессы.

Журнальные статьи

• Винкельман, Майкл (лето 1998). «Человеческие жертвы ацтеков: межкультурные оценки экологической гипотезы». Этнология . 37 (3): 285–298. doi : 10.2307/3774017 . JSTOR   3774017 .
• Продажи, RH (апрель 1957 г.). «Человеческая жертва в библейской мысли». Журнал Библии и религии . 25 (2): 112–117.
• Смит, Брайан К.; Донигер, Венди (декабрь 1989 г.). «Жертва и замена: ритуальная мистификация и мифическая демистификация». Нумен . 36 (2): 189–224. doi : 10.1163/156852789x00045 .
• Смит, Брайан К. (2000). «Смертная казнь и человеческие жертвы». Журнал Американской академии религии . 68 (1): 3–26. doi : 10.1093/jaarel/68.1.3 .
• Закон, Робин (январь 1985 г.). «Человеческая жертва в доколониальной Западной Африке». Африканские дела . 84 (334): 53–87. doi : 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a097676 .
• Ван Баарен, т. П. (январь 1964). «Теоретические предположения о жертве». Нумен . 11 : 1.
• Хейнсон, Гуннар (1992). «Рост жертвы крови и царство священника в Месопотамии: космический указ?». Религия . 22 (2): 109–134. doi : 10.1016/0048-721x (92) 90054-8 . «Рост жертвы крови и царство священника в Месопотамии: космический указ» . Архивировано из оригинала 5 июня 2009 года . Получено 12 декабря 2006 года .
• Rives, J. (1995). «Человеческие жертвы среди язычников и христиан». Журнал римских исследований . 85 : 65–85. doi : 10.1017/s0075435800074761 .
• Уильямс, Клиффорд (1988). «Асанте: человеческая жертва или смертная казнь? Оценка периода 1807–1874 гг.». Международный журнал африканских исторических исследований . 21 (3): 433–441. doi : 10.2307/2194449 . JSTOR   219449 . - Асанте также называют империей Ашанти .
• Шихан, Джонатан (2006). «Алтари идолов: религия, жертва и раннее современное государство». Журнал истории идей . 67 (4): 649–674. doi : 10.1353/jhi.2006.0040 . S2CID   159538645 .
  Шихан, Джонатан (2006). «Алтари идолов: религия, жертва и раннее современное государство» . Журнал истории идей . 67 (4): 649–674. doi : 10.1353/jhi.2006.0040 . S2CID   159538645 . Получено 25 мая 2010 года .
• Виллемс, Харко (1990). «Преступление, культ и смертная казнь (надпись Могаллы 8)». Журнал египетской археологии . 76 : 27–54.

Внешние ссылки

СМИ, связанные с человеческими жертвами в Wikimedia Commons

• Эшлиман, DL «Человеческая жертва в легендах и мифах» .
• Ли, Клэр (20 марта 2012 г.). «Национальный музей, чтобы продемонстрировать реликвии Silla» . Корея Вестник . - Ну, церемония в Силле .
• «Человеческая жертва» . Коллекция. Музей искусств Мичиганского университета .
• "Рутовое убийство " Британская Тол. 23 (11 -е изд.). 1911. с. 373.